Projection apparatus



Sept. 17, 1968 J- G. HIRSCH PROJECTION APPARATUS Filed July 22, 1966 JNVENTOR.

JEFFERY G. HIRSCH United States Patent 3,401,596 PROJECTION APPARATUS Jeffery G. Hirsch, 20 Scott Drive, New City, N.Y. 10956 Filed July 22, 1966, Ser. No. 567,208 1 Claim. (Cl. 88-24) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A projection device in the form of a conventional flashlight. The interior surface of the flashlight reflector is coated with a light absorbing material. The function of the light absorbing material is to reduce reflection from the reflector so as to effectively reduce the flashlight bulb to a single point source of light. A flat glass lens is provided with a decalcomania affixed thereto. The resultant structure yields a projection device that projects a sharp shadow of the decal.

This invention relates to a device for the projection of figures on a screen or wall or other viewing surface and more particularly to a display device in the form of a projection apparatus normally held in the hand of the user as in the manner of a conventional flashlight.

It is known that the play activities of many children center about their imitation or emulation of the real or imagined events which occur in the adult world. This proposition is borne out by the play of girls concerning their imagined performance of routine household tasks such as the care and feeding of children as represented by dolls and by boys in their play activities of games of war, toy aeroplanes and the like. That such play activities, particularly amongst boys, may often be concerned with imagined activities in the adult world is demonstrated by such popularizations as Davy Crockett, Robin Hood, as well as fictional characters from the so called world of comics as Superman, Batman, and the like. As part of the imagined activity in the adult world of various fictional characters, this emulation or imitation comprises the projecting on a screen or a wall, or even on low level clouds of various symbols or figures which may for example be from the animal kingdom. One such animal object is the outline of a bat. While children and particularly boys may purchase the often relatively expensive accoutrements of various real and imagined fictional characters from the adult world in the form of costumes, head gear, toy guns, toy automobiles,

etc., there is at present no readily available and inexpensive device suitable for the projection of the outline of a figure particularly adapted for the play activities of children.

This invention overcomes this absence and addresses itself to the modification of an inexpensive and relatively rugged light source such as a flashlight so that it may be employed for the projection of figures. According to the invention, a decalcomania representing the outline of a figure is pasted or otherwise aflixed to the lens of an otherwise conventional flashlight and the interior surface of the conically shaped reflecting element surrounding the bulb of the flashlight is provided with a matte or felt substance or otherwise modified so as to absorb the light emanating from the incandescent filament which impinges upon the conical reflecting member. In this manner the original light source defined by the bulb and its reflecting surface (these element being regarded as a source of light spread over an area) is effectively transformed to a point source of light. By such an arrangement, the various overlapping shadows are done away with which would without such a modification produce 3,401,596 Patented Sept. 17, 1968 a blurred or otherwise unrecognizable final viewing image.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional flashlight modified in accordance with the practice of the subject invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the flashlight of FIGURE 1, further illustrating the modification according to this invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes generally a flashlight of conventional form representing that class of flashlights which may be cheaply and readily purchased from a great number of retail sources. As conventional, such a flashlight includes a main and elongated cylindrical body 12 closed at one end by a metal cap 14 carrying a spring 16 in the center thereof. The projecting end of the spring bears against one portion of an electrical cell 18 in turn abutting against a second cell 18. The front or other end of the flashlight generally comprises an externally threaded portion carrying an internally threaded sleeve 20 which has an internal abutment bearing against the periphery of a lens 22. The lens is often formed of glass and may be described as plano-plano or it may assume the form of a lano-convex lens, it being understood that still other forms of lenses may be in use on conventional flashlights. The numeral 24 denotes a decalcomania pasted or otherwise suitably afiixed to the inside of the lens 22, although as will be understood from this description such a decalcomania may be placed on the exterior of the lens 22, as shown in FIGURE 2. The numeral 26 denotes a conical element provided at its smaller end with an integral tube 30 internally threaded for the reception of the threads of a conventional flashlight bulb 32. The filament of the bulb is denoted by the numeral 34. The details of the thumb operated switch 13 as well as other subassemblies are omitted from the drawings.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, a perspective view of the front portion of the flashlight is shown, the outer sleeve 20 as well as the middle and back ends of the flashlight being omitted for purposes of illustration. It will be observed from both FIGURES 1 and 2 that the conical reflector 26 is provided on its interior and otherwise reflecting surface with a matte or felt 28. This matte 28 may assume the form of a sprayedon felt or the form of carbon black or other light-absorbing material. In practice, in the event the light-absorbing surface 28 is to be sprayed on, the cone 26 is taken from the flashlight and sprayed. In the event the lightabsorbing material 28 is in the form of felt, the latter is suitably cut and pasted or otherwise affixed to the interior surface of the conical member 26. It will be observed that the conical member 26 in most readily available and inexpensive flashlights serves the dual function of rendering a great proportion of the light rays emanating from the incandescent filament 34 parallel, thereby obtaining a greater quantity of useful light and functions also to hold the bulb 32 in position.

Turning now to the operation of the subject invention, the provision of the light-absorbing surface or material 28 performs dual functions of reducing the bulb and reflector complex to a single point source of light, as represented by the filament 34, and also to magnify the outline of the decalcomania 24. This is illustrated at FIG- URE 1 of the drawings by the dotted lines emanating from the bulb 32 and striking the periphery of the decalcomania 24 for final viewing upon a screen S. Only a brief consideration would illustrate that, without the rendition of the non-reflecting coating 28, the final image at S would be blurred due to the many virtual light sources defined by reflected rays from bulb 32 striking the outlines of decalcomania 24 at various angles depending upon the location of these virtual light sources around the various interior points of the conical member 26. It is known that an effective point source of light may be derived by the step of coating the conical reflector of a flashlight structure with a matte finish, this shown in US. Patent 3,183,773 to Weinstein. Other examples of hand held projection apparatus may be found in U.S. Patents 2,717,530, 3,025,754, and 3,078,761. It is also known that a display apparatus similar in function to that apparatus now described may be formed by so configuring the filament of an incandescent light source so that the filament assumes the desired form of the projected outline. Such an arrangement is illustrated in US. Patent 1,745,407 to Colberg and it will be appreciated that while probably satisfactory for the intended purpose such an arrangement would be rather expensive as compared to the arrangement of this invention.

It will be understood that the distance of the lens 22 to the source of light 32 may be varied, as in the case of the above-mentioned Weinstein structure, by elongating a tubular member and mounting the lens 22 at the remote end thereof.

From the above description the worker skilled in this art will recognize that the relatively simple display device above set forth embodies the concept of modifying a conventional commercial structure to yield a workable hand held display device. It will be further recognized that by reducing the amount of light effectively emanating from the flashlight, due to the non-reflecting coating, a decalcomania pasted on the lens may be sharply projected, in distinction to relatively complex condensing lens arrangements common in the projection art.

What is claimed is:

1. A projection apparatus comprising a flashlight, said flashlight including a conical surface of revolution at one end thereof, a lens positioned at the wide end of the conical surface, a light bulb positioned at the narrow end of the conical surface, a decalcomania aifixed to one surface of the lens of said flashlight in generally coplanar relation, the interior surface of said conical member being covered with a light-absorbing means so that a welldefined and sharp image of the decalcomania may be projected on a viewing surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,459,083 6/1923 Becker 24010.6 1,590,623 6/1926 Hendry 240-10.68 2,048,365 7/1936 Agate 8826 NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner.

R. M. SHEER, Assistant Examiner. 

